Nonstop flight route between Alconbury, England, United Kingdom and Natori, Japan:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 (AYH), Alconbury, England, United Kingdom and Sendai Airport (SDJ), Natori, Japan would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,762 miles (or 9,273 kilometers).

A Great Circle is the shortest distance between 2 points on a sphere. Because most world maps are flat (but the Earth is round), the route of the shortest distance between 2 points on the Earth will often appear curved when viewed on a flat map, especially for long distances. If you were to simply draw a straight line on a flat map and measure a very long distance, it would likely be much further than if you were to lay a string between those two points on a globe. Because of the large distance between RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 and Sendai Airport, the route shown on this map most likely appears curved because of this reason.

Try it at home! Get a globe and tightly lay a string between RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 and Sendai Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 (AYH):

• Satellite bases were considered one answer to this threat – a landing ground within reasonable road travel distance of the parent airfield to which aircraft could be diverted if the home station was bombed or likely to be attacked.
• Opened in 1938, it is currently a non-flying facility under the control of the United States Air Force.
• The furthest airport from RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 (AYH) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,821 miles (19,024 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The construction attracted the attention of the Luftwaffe as the flying field of RAF Alconbury was attacked by German bombers on 16 September 1940, although no serious damage was done.
• The closest airport to RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 (AYH) is Cambridge International Airport (CBG), which is located 20 miles (32 kilometers) ESE of AYH.
• The 93d was the first Liberator-equipped bomber group to reach the Eighth Air Force.
• During this period, RAF Alconbury consisted of a few wooden huts but plans were made to provide both refuelling and rearmament facilities.
• In October 1941 two of its flights with 16 Wellingtons were dispatched to operate from Malta, supposedly on an emergency detachment.

Facts about Sendai Airport (SDJ):

• The closest airport to Sendai Airport (SDJ) is Yamagata Airport (GAJ), which is located 35 miles (56 kilometers) WNW of SDJ.
• Because of the damage caused by the earthquake and tsunami, all scheduled service were suspended from 11 March 2011 until 13 April 2011.
• The airport reopened to limited commercial traffic on 13 April 2011.
• Sendai Airport (SDJ) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Sendai Airport (SDJ) is Rio Grande Regional Airport (RIG), which is located 11,588 miles (18,650 kilometers) away in Rio Grande, Brazil.
• In addition to being known as "Sendai Airport", other names for SDJ include "仙台空港" and "Sendai Kūkō".
• The west end of the terminal services domestic routes and the east side international routes.
• In 1957, the runway was extended to 1,200 metres and Nippon Helicopter Transport established a route from Tokyo's to Sendai.
• Because of Sendai Airport's relatively low elevation of 6 feet, planes can take off or land at Sendai Airport at a lower air speed than at airports located at a higher elevation. This is because the air density is higher closer to sea level than it would otherwise be at higher elevations.